Scott Wykoff's Blog

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Hitting Close To Home

News of a spectacular crash involving a bus carrying a minor league hockey team in New England really captured my attention today.

Back-in-the-day it could have been me on that bus.

For 4 years back in the mid-80s, I spent many a late night on buses just like the one pictured above driving from city to city across the Northeast. I was the play-by-play announcer for the AHL's Maine Mariners.

Five people were seriously injured when the bus carrying the AHL's Albany River Rats rolled on its side on The Mass Pike in Western Massachusetts.

Four hockey players and the team's radio commentator were hospitalized with serious injuries.

CLICK HERE to read the latest story about the hockey team bus crash in the Albany Times Union

One of those injured in the wreck was the team's radio commentator. The coach of the hockey team says he's never been so frightened. This coming from a guy who has made his career playing and coaching in what is often the very tough world of hockey..

The bus carrying the hockey team home from a game in Lowell struck a guard rail and rolled on its side at about 3:35 a.m. There was many an early morning when I sat near the front of the Mariners team bus making its way to and from games. Like when the team played here in Baltimore against the Skipjacks. It was an 8 hour ride back to Portland, ME from Baltimore. We would leave Baltimore at 11pm and roll into Portland at around 7am. 4 hours from Springfield, MA to Portland. 7 hours from Portland to Moncton, New Brunswick. You get the idea. Long late nights on the bus packed with players, coaches, trainers, reporters and me.

Click on the photo below to see video from the crash scene

I remember one early morning during a trip back to Portland from Sherbrooke, Quebec when I thought our bus was going to crash. I was asleep across 2 seats (nobody ever sat next to me because I talked too much) at about 2 am when something woke me up. I looked out the windshield of the bus and saw a moose standing in the middle of the 2 lane highway in Crawford's Notch, NH. The bus driver hitting the break woke me up and there I was looking out at the moose that I thought we would either plow into or crash trying to avoid. Luckily the driver was able to just miss the moose and keep the bus on the road.

Those folks on that bus carrying the Albany River hockey team weren't as lucky.

"It's not too bad," said one of the injured players in the hospital when he was reached on the phone by the Albany Times Union . He said he was sleeping when the bus crashed. The next thing he realized he was awake and the bus was on its side.

He and his teammates were heading home to Albany from Lowell when the bus hit bad weather in the Berkshire Mountains and rolled.

I remember many a late night bus trip when we would hit bad weather. In the back of my mind I always knew it was possible that we would crash. But you never thought it would happen.

Luckily nobody was killed when the River Rats bus crashed. The coach says the injured players and announcer should be fine.

Along with the 4 injured players, radio commentator John Hennessy remained behind at the Berkshire Medical Center for treatment.

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The Albany Times Union reports radio play-by-play announcer Owen Newkirk (pictured above) suffered a slight concussion. Just like when I was riding those buses in the minor leagues, he's the team's broadcaster and communications director. He told the paper from the hospital in Massachusetts that he was all right. I'm definitely going to drop him a line on Facebook. He said he climbed to safety through a broken window after the crash.

If the bus driver was anything like the man who drove our bus in Maine, he must be devastated.Our motor coach driver was Bill Anderson. He spent decades driving for the Maine Lines Bus company. He wore a green jacket while he was behind the wheel. It looked like he had just one the Masters. He helped load and unload all the players equipment (and my radio equipment too).

Bill would rarely see the Maine Mariners play though. After dropping the team off at the rink he would find a quiet spot to park and sleep. He knew he was responsible for everyone of us on his bus and he needed to be fresh and wide awake when we made those long trips home.

Bill was a real character who really did a good job getting us to games and back home safely.

We had some great times on those bus trips. Stories that could last for hours. Food and drink from neat mom and pop roadside stops across the Northeast. Not to mention the great scenery.

The trick to getting back to the restroom is walking on the arm rests! That's because the aisle is normally packed with bags and coolers. There were no laptops 20 years ago when I was making all those bus trips across the American Hockey League. I bet it's cool being able to do so much and to be so connected now on those bus trips with the team. We did have movies though!

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Tom McVie (former Caps coach) was the coach of the Mariners my first season with the team. He sat in the front seat of the bus next to the door. Tommy never seemed to sleep. He was always up talking to our driver Bill. For two seasons Mike Milbury (now on NBC's hockey coverage) and Gordie Clark (the NY Rangers Director of Player personnel) were the coaches of the Mariners. While Mike and I would usually fall asleep, it was Gordie who would stay awake with Bill. Gordie was also the only one on the bus who had more stories than me.

But for anyone who has spent late nights and early mornings on the road for their jobs, crashes like this one involving the River Rats hit close to home.

Here's hoping that those Albany River Rat players and their radio commentator are going to be O.K. and back on the ice, back on-the-air and back on the road soon.